amurca

From Latin amurca.

amurca (plural amurcas)

1. The sediment in olive oil.

• oil cake

• Maruca

From Ancient Greek ἀμόργη (amórgē), possibly via Etruscan.

amurca f (genitive amurcae); first declension

1. The watery part that flows out in pressing olives, the lees or dregs of oil
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics 1.193–196:

     Semina vidi equidem multos medicare serentes
     Et nitro prius et nigra perfundere amurca,
     Grandior ut fetus siliquis fallacibus esset
     Et quamvis igni exiguo properata maderent.

     I likewise saw many steep seeds as they were sowing and, beforehand, treat them with alkalis and the dregs of black olive-oil, that bigger fruits may grow inside the deceitful pod, and they quickly boil to however small a fire.

   • 200s CE, Quintus Gargilius Martialis, 1. 1. ed. Angelo Mai Operis deperditi de hortis Fragmenta ex codicibus Neapolitano et Romano cum scholiis palaeographicis et adnotationibus, Rome, 1846 p. 58, in De arboribus pomiferis:

     Sunt qui figularem cretam cum amurca subigunt, soleque siccatis cydoneis inliniri existimant, si in loco sicco et frigido reponantur.

     There are those who mix potter clay with amurca and hold it to be daubed on quinces when they are set up in a dry and cold stead.

First-declension noun.

• amurcārius

• “amurca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “amurca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “amurca”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Learned borrowing from Latin amurca.

• Rhymes: -uʁkɐ, -uɾkɐ
• Hyphenation: a‧mur‧ca

amurca f (plural amurcas)

1. amurca (dark water running from the olive granary)

   Synonyms: albufeira, almofeira, reima

• “amurca”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “amurca”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from Latin amurca. Doublet of morga and murga.

• IPA^(key): /aˈmuɾka/ [aˈmuɾ.ka]
• Rhymes: -uɾka
• Syllabification: a‧mur‧ca

amurca f (plural amurcas)

1. amurca

• “amurca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024